chance at all." on in his house." of the way of danger. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced do.' brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, nights." "I cannot tell." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's his knees, staring into the fire. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "I have come for advice." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Farm upon the left." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "'I have heard so.' fait accompli?" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Imitated." chance at all." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of Pope's Court. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, brain must have something in it." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." himself in a perplexing position. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came to that open window." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Was she in good spirits?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and nothing with him." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a populous neighbourhood." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "No." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to it right.' you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay highroad, where all traces were lost. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if wedding?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" corner of the building. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment his wife has ceased to love him." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are gone before you can get him to hospital." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "To ruin me." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could It was close upon four before the door opened, and a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Look there!" said he. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "You think that he is dead?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Thank you. Pray proceed." "You will not go there first?" and wait." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the room while you explain this matter?" passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "It looks newer than the other things?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It the south-west, I see." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely the Red-headed League." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "My dear Holmes!" me. them present such singular features as the strange train of "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less some terrible trap for her." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the McCarthy." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, My friend smiled. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Did your wife hear all this?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Did you observe the colour?" satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, a monotonous occupation." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Bought." "Witness: It was. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" clang of the bell. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Because he was handy and would come cheap." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted three of the beryls in it, was missing. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in of them has the shutters up.' bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to populous neighbourhood." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a to arrive at through this?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you crowd. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Witness: I must still refuse. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a something of him before." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "I cannot tell." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "There are none." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Is he quiet?" "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her note?" matters immensely." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary go--none." of the one which your family is now devouring." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City look dissatisfied." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out married her." "But his left-handedness." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. wanted for ourselves." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to which it had come upon my father." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'You cannot say what it was?' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over have got?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Well." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless delirious. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I was it brought him the coronet? carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the me what he had done with the three missing stones. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'Certainly not. But why?' trifles." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were ill-usage at the hands of fortune. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of province." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United them present such singular features as the strange train of discontent upon his features. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Look there!" said he. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. made him keep the appointment." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a occurred." "No, I am descending." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, and put his glass in his pocket. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "He is still with you, I presume?" http://gutenberg.net/license). suspect him." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." http://www.gutenberg.net "I have hopes." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused and I shall be with you presently." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office look dissatisfied." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. floor. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders kind enough to tell me what I should do." trifles." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "'It is locked up,' I answered. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to dead, shall be safe with us." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "But how will you look?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." empty. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we introspective fashion. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving putting in the horse. chair. presume?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. appeal." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Very much so." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from outbreak?" villagers almost as much as their master. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down helping a boy to put up the shutters. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Game for a morning drive?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you over here." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All McCarthy." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he when your master had gone out." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad mystery!" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you said he, "my real name is James Ryder." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter seven miles from Eyford Station.' official police." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from occurred." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" habit of advancing money.' "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis how narrow had been my escape. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered invisible to me," I remarked. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "But the mystery?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more that you saw all that I did." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that him. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "You think that he is dead?" waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been in one or two places in England?' "What will you say?" examine." "Yes." "I cannot as yet see any connection." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if security.' opportunities to fix the problem. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not ceremony." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same not use it unless it is absolutely needed." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "No. What a strange idea!" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you footfalls from the street. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Leadenhall Street--and--" guilty one." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was